1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to devices for blocking marauding animals, such as squirrels and cats, from reaching a pole-mounted bird feeder and, more particularly, is concerned with a marauder-deterrent bird feeder pole and platform slide assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many bird feeders are mounted a considerable distance above ground level at top ends of long upright posts or poles having their lower ends buried in the ground. These pole-mounted bird feeders are often invaded by marauding animals, typically squirrels and cats, who are able to climb up the long pole to the bird feeder located at the top and steal the food.
Devices have been proposed over the years in the prior patent art to resolve this problem by preventing the marauder from climbing completely to the top of the pole and thus reaching the bird feeder. Representative examples of such prior art devices are the ones disclosed in U.S. patents to Bower (U.S. Pat. No. 2,891,508) and Chester (U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,856).
The Bower patent proposes a marauder-blocking guard in the form of an annular plate mounted about the pole at a spacing slightly below the bird feeder. The annular plate is supported on the pole by a conical spring and has a central aperture substantially larger in diameter than the pole to permit the plate to tilt or deflect by the weight of the marauding animal while attempting to climb the pole and pass the plate. The marauding animal, such as a squirrel, hopefully will be unable to climb around the tiltable plate and instead will become frightened and jump off and return to the ground.
The Chester patent proposes a squirrel-proof axially elongated sleeve mounted on the pole below the bird feeder for vertical slidable movement along the pole. A counterweight inside of the pole has sufficient mass to lift the sleeve to and hold the sleeve at an upper home position. However, when a marauding animal, such as a squirrel, climbs up the pole and onto the sleeve, the mass of the counterweight is insufficient to support the combined weight of the marauder and sleeve. The sleeve carrying the marauder will start to slide down the pole and hopefully the marauder will become frightened and jump off and return to the ground.
However, some marauding animals, especially squirrels, are particularly tenacious, persistent and resourceful and will try again and again to discover the weaknesses of such devices and learn how to bypass and defeat them. With respect to the Bower device, the squirrel will soon probably realize that the tiltable annular plate is nothing to fear and so after awhile will not be startled and scared away by its tilting action. Instead, the squirrel may learn that it might serve as a springboard to the bird feeder. With respect to the Chester device, the squirrel will soon probably learn how to sprint up the pole at a sufficient speed to carry it past the slidable sleeve without having to grab onto the slidable sleeve and so defeat the impediment posed by the sleeve.
Consequently, a need still exists for a device which will overcome the drawbacks of the prior art devices and more effectively block access of marauding animals to pole-mounted bird feeders.